1 . Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly, to a facsimile apparatus having a plurality of image reading units which are provided separately from a main controlling unit and are connected through a communication line with the main controlling unit.
2 . Description of the Related Art
A conventional facsimile apparatus (referred to as a first prior art hereinafter) is constituted by a main controlling unit which receives and transmits image data after being connected through a telecommunication line with a facsimile apparatus of a destination or the other party, an image reading unit which reads the image of a document and converts the read image into image data, and an image recording unit for recording the image of the image data onto a paper in accordance with the inputted image data. The above three units are formed into one body in the first prior art.
Since the first prior art is necessary to be connected with a communication line, it should be placed in the vicinity of a terminal box such as a rosette or the like of the communication line. Accordingly, it is necessary to move the terminal box when the facsimile apparatus of the first prior art is to be set in a different position.
As a solution to the aforementioned drawback, the inventors of the present invention proposed another type of a facsimile apparatus (referred to as a second prior art hereinafter) in Japanese Patent laid open publication No. 2152363/1990, which has a plurality of image reading units or a plurality of image recording units arranged detachable and easily movable away from the main body.
According to the second prior art, the facsimile apparatus is provided with plurality of image reading units each of which generates digital image data corresponding to the image of a document through scanning of the image of the document, a plurality of image recording units each of which reproduces the image onto a recording paper according to the digital image data, and a line connecting unit which connects the facsimile apparatus with a communication line, i.e., signal receiving/transmitting medium for communicating with the other party. This second prior art is characterized in that the line connecting unit and each of the image reading units, and/or the line connecting unit and each of the image recording units are mutually connected with each other via a radio communication line.
However, the following disadvantage remains yet to be solved in the second prior art. In the case where a plurality of image reading units are connected to the line connecting unit in the second prior art, if one of the image reading units is reading the image of a document and transmitted the image data to the facsimile apparatus of the other party via the line connecting unit, it is impossible for the other reading units to read the image of the document, thus forcing the operator to stand by.